Matt Kemp acknowledged that he read the now-famous quote from San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt about the Dodgers' chemistry earlier this month.

In reference to the Dodgers' league-high $213 million payroll, Belt said: "All I can say is, you can't buy chemistry."

Nothing like a few fightin' words to stoke a good rivalry, right?

The Dodgers' center fielder responded Friday. When told that it was Belt who made the "chemistry" quip, Kemp seemed unimpressed.

"Yeah. OK. Yeah, exactly," Kemp said. "I feel like if I was the World Series champ, I wouldn't be saying anything about anybody's team. You know what I'm saying? I don't have to say anything. I'm a World Series champ. We're not worried about what people say.

"I can already tell with the people that we have here that the chemistry's going to be good. We built chemistry at the end of the year last year. Everything started working the way we wanted it to work. We really don't care about what people say or how they feel.

"We have a great team. We've just got to go out there and do our thing. So let them say what they want."

Kemp is still recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. His only target to play in a game is April 1, the first day of the regular season.

After the surgery, Kemp said, he "kind of had fun with the eating" and couldn't run for a time. Eventually he lost the weight back,dropping down to 213 pounds. Kemp said he began the 2012 season at 220 pounds, up from 208 during his 39-home run season of 2011.